Wage growth slows but Villa and Blues up bill

The Midlands' longestserving Premiership clubs - Aston Villa and Birmingham City - increased their wage bill in the season before last, compared to the 2002-03 campaign, according to an annual review of football finance.

The Midlands' longestserving Premiership clubs - Aston Villa and Birmingham City - increased their wage bill in the season before last, compared to the 2002-03 campaign, according to an annual review of football finance.

The report by Deloitte says that Villa, ninth in the list, spent £33.7 million on players, compared to their previous total of £32.3 million, an increase of five per cent, while Blues had a bigger percentage increase, that of 16 per cent, by outlaying £23.1 million, compared to their previous figure of £19.9 million.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are the biggest spenders on wages in the world but the other 19 Premiership clubs are for the first time spending less overall on players' pay.

The report says that across 19 of the 20 Premier League the total wage bill for 2003-04 was one per cent lower than the previous year.

Even with Chelsea, the total Barclays Premiership wage bill went up only seven per cent from £761 million to £811 million - the lowest growth rate since the formation of the Premier League in 1992 and well below the staggering average annual rate of 23 per cent over the previous decade.

Deloitte sports business consultant Paul Rawnsley believes the slowdown does not herald a recession in the English top flight but reflects clubs taking a more prudent approach to player wages.

Rawnsley said: "At the top clubs the biggest stars are still being very well paid - and the amount Chelsea are paying skews the figures -

but in the middle ground there are not the rates of increases seen in the previous ten years and even decreases.

"The clubs would have known that their income from the new Sky Sports television deal would be slightly lower and look to have adjusted accordingly.

"There has also been an increase in performancerelated pay and it would be healthier if there was a greater move to these sorts of contracts where players were rewarded for Champions' League qualification or Premier League survival."

The year covered by the report was Roman Abramovich's first full season of ownership and so does not cover any spending last summer by new manager Jose Mourinho.

The report states: "Chelsea had a total wages bill of £115 million, £38 million higher than the second-placed club, Manchester United, and almost certainly the highest football club wages bill in the world."

There was a fall of seven per cent in players' earnings in the Championship to £138 million - a reversal of an average 15 per cent increase over the last decade, and player wages also declined in Leagues One and Two, by 17 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

In terms of overall revenue, Premiership clubs earned £1.3 billion in 2003-04 confirming it as the biggest league in Europe by a record margin and representing 18 per cent of the total £7.5 billion European football market.

Deloitte partner Dan Jones added: "The Premiership continues to go from strength to strength with solid top-line growth. Premiership and Football League clubs have also had success in reining back costs, particularly wages, and in doing so have improved the profitability of English professional football."

Manchester United again led in terms of revenue generation with £172 million, the most for any club in the world, but Chelsea, with £144 million, narrowed the gap.